JACK McCAFFERY: Phils better off with Howard on bench

Philadelphia Phillies' Ryan Howard gestures towards the fans after hitting a solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game with the Atlanta Braves, Friday, July 5, 2013, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 5-4. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

PHILADELPHIA — Charlie Manuel will go into Phillies history with Ryan Howard, and Ryan Howard will go into Phillies history with Charlie Manuel. It’s an entry. No splitting it up.

Without Howard, Manuel could have been viewed as an ultimate failure, able to push a team into contention, but never to a championship. Without Manuel’s patience and hitting tips, Howard may never have blossomed into an MVP. At least that’s the short version, the story that will endure. They needed — or at least, they benefited from — each other.

So when Howard complained of a knee problem, withdrew from the lineup and made an appointment with an MRI analyst Saturday, there was Manuel, if not lost, then at least nostalgic. “It’s a blow,” the manager said. “Just his presence in the lineup makes us better.”

Never mind that Manuel had taken in recent weeks to benching Howard, exasperated as he must have been with the repeated strikeouts and disintegration of power. All he knew was that there was a chance that Howard’s pain could lead to a surgery, that the surgery could lead to a prolonged recovery, and that by the time everything was whole again, an era might be buried.

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It’s how sports endings unfold. And when they do, there are two sensations, one immediate, one on hold. The first: Emptiness. The second: An atmosphere for rebirth. The Phillies didn’t want it to happen the way it did, but that’s where they were by Sunday morning. They were in a position to see how things would be without a sore-legged Howard striking out nearly one of every three times he’d wiggled into a batter’s box.

That’s when Domonic Brown, batting cleanup, hit a home run and a triple. That’s when Darin Ruf, starting at first base, hit a double and scored two runs. That’s when the younger Phillies, including Ben Revere and Jonathan Pettibone, made substantial contributions to a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves. And that’s when a theory had passed its first test: That it was best for Howard to go away for a while.

“It’s tough,” Howard said. “I definitely want to be out there. But at the same time I have to be smart about it and try to see if we can nip it in the bud and see what will help. Hopefully try to get back out there as soon as we can.”

Howard has had foot issues and the knee trouble, and he has an Achilles with fresh scars. That could explain his lost MVP-candidacy consistency. Or it could just be that he is 33, which is becoming old again in major-league sports. Either way, the Phillies were obligated to find out before a maddening season became too late to rescue. The rest and medical attention might make Howard less strikeout-prone. It definitely will not make him more likely to commit too early to Strike 3.

Clearly, Manuel had been in a recent mood to see that himself, sitting Howard for a variety of reasons. Yet when it was forced upon him, the prospect was frightening.

“He’s still a threat,” Manuel said. “He has 47 RBIs.”

He’s a threat and he’s a clubhouse treasure, and he was willing to play through pain until he just could not any more. But he was no longer a terrifying home-run threat, and those strikeouts were unbearable in the middle of the lineup. Thus, opportunity — opportunity to grow comfortable with an All-Star in the four-spot and with Ruf attempting to provide right-handed power.

“Any time you come up, you don’t want to go back to the minors,” Ruf said. “But we will see what happens. Hopefully, I can take advantage of this opportunity. Ryan’s knee is going to get better at some point, but hopefully I impress them enough and help them win some games and show what I can do.”

Manuel said that Ruf will be at first for a while, and that Brown will hit cleanup, and that the Phillies still have a chance to win something.

It was necessary, all of it. Because it is better to feel a little emptiness in July than a whole lot of it in October.